MWPHA Partners with MPH Students in our Advocacy Efforts

For the past five years, MWPHA has supported MPH graduate students in the George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services’ advocacy course. This year, the students were very successful in their efforts, with little to no help from other MWPHA members. (I say “other” MWPHA members because most have joined MWPHA as student members.)

Their Efforts

Get F.E.D. : Get Food Equality in DC focused on the implementation of the 2010 D.C. FEED Act. This act passed in 2010 aims to increase the options for fresh fruits and vegetables in the District’s food deserts. The team worked closely with ANC and the Ward 8 Farmers’ Market to continue this work. To learn more about their work, view the video from the GW Hatchet article.

Colonials for Clean Air: Colonials for Clean Air aims to change George Washington University's (GWU) smoking policy to protect the health of non-smokers. The goal of the project is for GWU to enforce a 25 foot smoke-free barrier around all campus buildings. Breathe DC granted the students $2300 for their efforts.

Good Samaritan Project: The goal of the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act is simply to prevent death from drug-related overdose. The team drafted and is working to pass the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act for DC. As it now stands in DC and in most states, people who dial 911, drop a friend off at a hospital, or otherwise try to get care for someone in the midst of a drug overdose are subject to prosecution for use and possession of drugs. We would like to thank the Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service and the Public Service Grant Commission for funding their efforts to pass the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act in DC.

Save Lives Free the Condoms: From 2005- 2009 students worked to get CVS stores in DC to remove their condoms from behind counters, locked boxed, and noisy click boxes. This year the students focused on CVS stores in Prince Georges County and only 3 stores have not unlocked their condoms. In future years, we are going after a national CVS policy to keep condoms accessible for all. They worked with the Sexually Transmitted Infections Community Coalition, University of Maryland Prevention Research Center, and the Prince Georges County Health Department on this issue.

Get Involved

Next fall, we want to give them more support than ever before. Here is how you can help.

1. Share information from their websites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts with your community and colleagues. Doing so takes what starts out as a class project and helps turn it into a real community-based effort.

2. Suggest a local health issue they can advocate around and volunteer to be their community mentor. If you don’t have time, maybe you know or work with others who can be community mentors.

3. Give feedback on their project proposals. Some students will be new to the area and need the perspective of someone who has lived and worked in the region review their ideas.

4. Attend their events. The students send messages out via the listserv and they would appreciate your attendance.

5. Keep the project going through the spring and summer. While some of the students will continue working on the project, it is up to MWPHA members to keep the momentum going.

It’s very simple. We hope you will join us next year.

Thank you to Dr. Caroline Sparks and the GWU MPH students for your hard work and the continued partnership and support of MWPHA.

World AIDS Day - Alana N. Black

As many of you already know, today is the 24th annual World AIDS Day. While a lot has improved in the last thirty years, with the development of effective medications and increased public awareness of the disease, we still have a long way to go, particularly in DC.

More than 3 percent of all DC residents over the age of twelve have HIV or AIDS, according to the DC Department of Health. As a result of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses and the associated stigma* of the disease, many of these individuals in our community often face blatant discrimination when seeking housing and employment.

Below are a few articles about the celebration of World AIDS Day this year, and about HIV/AIDS research and treatment in general. Feel free to add more in comments!

Local

Metro Weekly -- World AIDS Day: Three generations reflect on the evolution of an epidemic

National

Washington Post -- Researchers puzzle over clashing results of AIDS-prevention trials

Washington Post -- Obama steers $50M more toward fighting AIDS in US

Chicago Tribune -- World AIDS Day marked by search for an ideal

New York Times -- City's health chief pushes earlier drug treatment

San Francisco Chronicle -- Now isn't the time to cut programs that fight AIDS [editorial]

International

Associated Press -- South African debuts AIDS film on World AIDS Day

The Guardian (UK) -- HIV/Aids: We are all unprotected [editorial]

*Also, speaking of stigma, stay tuned for more details about MWPHA's stigma workshop, to be held Saturday, January 21.

Workshop on HIV and Stigma- Charlotte Malerich

HIV-related stigma creates barriers to effective treatment and prevention, and thwarts efforts to end the epidemic on the whole. It makes people afraid to seek treatment, to take precautions, and to share critical information with their loved ones. It marginalizes social movements and programs, like needle exchanges, which are proven to reduce the spread of HIV. According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, stigma "helps make AIDS the silent killer, because people fear the social disgrace of speaking about it... Stigma is a chief reason why the AIDS epidemic continues to devastate societies around the world."

Building on curricula from the International Center for Research on Women, members of the MWPHA Health Disparities Committee and partners are developing a workshop to address HIV-related stigma. After the workshop, participants will understand what stigma is; its relationship to social determinants and structures of power like patriarchy, racism, homophobia, and social class; and why speaking up is critical to ending the epidemic. Additionally, participants will be challenged to take action in their own communities. The workshop will be presented at the second annual conference on HIV and stigma at Howard University on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2011, and become a permanent piece of the Committee's toolkit, offered to community organizations and groups.

A trial run of the workshop took place on May 7. With feedback from participants, a sub-committee for the workshop development will meet to conduct further research, as well as revise and add to the workshop's content. Those interested in working on this project as creators, becoming facilitators, or participating in future workshop trials should contact Joy Spencer at joyful9802@gmail.com or Charlotte Malerich at csmalerich@gmail.com.

Building Solidarity among Metro Workers and Riders - By Charlotte Malerich

The MWPHA Health Disparities Committee is partnering with members of ATU Local 689, the union representing our area's Metro workers. This is a prime opportunity to bring a public health perspective to issues of transportation, good jobs, and structural racism.

Historically, Metro has been one of the few sources of well-paying jobs with benefits to the African American community of DC. A minimum-wage worker at McDonald's or Target, for instance, might depend on health insurance through a parent or spouse working at Metro. But in 2010, binding arbitration resulted in a contract that increased workers' payments for their health insurance, eliminated retirement health benefits for new hires, and froze wages for the first year of the contract. The union leadership agreed to all the concessions in the contract, because it included retroactive 3% pay increases per year—bare minimum cost-of-living increases. Metro management, however, challenged the pay raises.

While the contract is stuck in the court system, Metro workers are stuck with the consequences of the contract and none of the benefits. Management has also stepped up surveillance and harsh discipline for minor infractions.

As an outgrowth of the Engaging Activism workshop in January, Committee members hosted a roundtable discussion with a retired Metro worker, and developed an information flyer for the riding public. Contact Charlotte Malerich at csmalerich@gmail.com or (703) 944-5548 for more.

UPDATE: MWPHA Committee on Women, Children, and Youth - By Mary Frances Kornak

UPDATE: MWPHA Committee on Women, Children, and Youth

The MWPHA committee on Women, Children, and Youth met May 24, 2011 to discuss the first topic of its professional development series: medical homes. We drafted an outline and are planning for a September presentation. Members interested in helping to plan this informative event are welcome to join us now.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau has an outcome measure that states: “Children and youth with special health care needs will receive coordinated, ongoing, comprehensive care within a medical home.”

While this is directed to the Special Needs population, the concept of a medical home is one that should be embraced for all children, for people with chronic diseases, and even the general population. Medical homes are not widely implemented in DC, according to data from the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs 2005/2006. Establishing a medical home can help address racial, ethnic, and family income inequities in access to care that national healthcare reform alone cannot erase.

Save the Date: 2011 Annual Meeting April 12th

Get FED D.C. Ward 8 Video Outreach

Get F.E.D. - Food Equality in D.C., is a subcommittee of the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association (MWPHA) advocating for the elimination of food deserts in Washington, D.C., with particular attention to Ward 8.

Our primary goal is to influence the D.C. Council to pass the Food, Environmental, and Economic Development in the District of Columbia (FEED DC) Act of 2010. The FEED DC Act has three goals: (1) to improve access to healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods; (2) to encourage green technology in food stores; (3) to create good jobs in areas with very high levels of unemployment.

Visit our website, at http://getfeddc.weebly.com where you can learn more about who we are, what we're doing, and how to get involved in supporting equal chances for healthier food choices.

Follow us on Twitter: @getFEDDC and Facebook: http://on.fb.me/getfeddc